School-based occupational and physical therapists have been dipping their toes into all of the value that technology can bring to working more efficiently. With large caseloads, and often times multiple buildings, therapists understand how important efficiency is! One solution to improving efficiency is the establishment of digital online folders and files.
Moving folders and files online can not only streamline administrative tasks but also foster collaboration, empower data-driven decision-making, and provide a secure platform for sharing resources. In this blog post, we will discuss implementing digital online folders in school-based therapy in both Google and Microsoft OneNote.
Moving Folders Online
Most schools are either a Google school or a Microsoft School. Chances are your school is one of them. They’ve probably also done all of the work to make sure that they’ve chosen a cloud-based platform (Google or Microsoft) that is secure when it comes to putting student information in the cloud. Checking in with your school on which platform you should be using is important before getting started as well as read up on FERPA versus HIPAA for the school-based therapist.
If you are a school that uses Google as your cloud-based platform, this section is for you.
Google’s cloud-based storage is called Drive. Within your drive you can create folders. Within those folders you can create even more folders. How you like to keep things organized is really up to you.
Below is a video going over one example of how easy it is to create organize folders for kids on your caseload.
Microsoft OneNote
Next up, Microsoft OneNote. If your school is a Microsoft school this is for you. Microsoft’s cloud-based storage is called OneDrive, but instead of setting up folders within OneDrive you can set them all up in OneNote (they are still all saved to the OneDrive cloud).
I’ll admit, I love OneNote an think it’s the best darn thing in the world. With OneNote there are a few things to take note of.
You can have:
Notebooks
Sections (I live to call Folders)
Section Groups
Individual files go within sections or notebooks.
Like Google, you can organize the folders and files however you would like, but there is one important thing to take note of with OneNote. Only Notebooks can be shared. So, if you are sharing a student with another therapist, you will want that student to have their own notebook. When sharing a notebook, all things within that notebook get shared.
Here is a video that goes over an example off setting up folders in OneNote.
Which should I choose?
Like I mentioned earlier, your school has probably already chosen their cloud-based platform of choice with all the cloud-based security features in place, that would be what you go with. If you are someone that does get to choose, you really can’t go wrong with either. They are both fantastic for keeping organized. My personal preference (and this is personal) is Microsoft OneNote as I love how organized it feels and how easy it is to use!
Get Even More Organized
If you want to dive even deeper into organization, documentation and efficiency while leveraging the technology available to you, you are in the right place.
Leveraging Technology for Efficiency by Pink Oatmeal digs into all the ways you can leverage technology to improve your efficiency as a school-based therapist.
This course is broken down into 8 lessons:
- The Cloud
- Online Files and Documentation with Google Suite
- Tracking Data and Using Google Forms
- Microsoft OneNote
- Tracking Data Using Microsoft Forms
- Working Between Devices
- Using ChatGPT for Efficiency
- Free Programs for Resource Creation
This course will give you everything you need to be more efficient with technology already available to you!